P Parenthood: Unborn babies may come out intact


My country (Nigeria) has worked hard to eradicate completely through laws and societal codes, the dark elements within it that hurt and harmed men, women and children in the centuries past.

Today my people bask in both the wonderful splendor of culture and the powerful illumination of faith. Knowing what we know, there is no way we could ever go back to the shadows. We understand that it is indeed evil to kill another human being, old or young, rich or poor, born or unborn. To kill is evil, but to kill and cut open another human being to take their organs...now, this is an abomination. It is the most horrific abomination from the deepest, darkest abyss where the very worst elements of the past have been relegated. I never imagined that in my 21st century "modern" era I will ever re-live my grandmother's 1920's stories of killing of newborn twin babies and primitive native "medicine men" (known in my Igbo language as dibia) who in order to "consult with the gods" would demand animal (and sometimes human) hearts, livers and lungs. These were figments of a dark and hidden past of an African tribe and so never did I imagine that I will encounter them in this modern day and age.

Obianuju Ekeocha is an African woman, living and working in the United Kingdom as a Specialist Biomedical Scientist